Tony is the host and organiser of the Affect and Social Media conferences in east London and a co-founder of the public engagement initiative the Cultural Engine Research Group. He currently works as a reader in digital media cultures and communication at the University of East London in the UK.

Affect and Social Media is an edited collection of twenty bite sized articles by leading scholars from across disciplinary boundaries. It is comprised of four distinct but related sections which are interspersed with artistic illustrations, depicting the affectivities that flow through social media. The term ‘affect’ denotes a rather slippery concept that is not as easily caught as for example ‘emotion’ or ‘feeling’. Quite often it denotes a more than or an excess to that which is felt in the human body or indexed through cultural grids of meaning. It can exist in ways which defy expectations, conventions, and representations. It is often understood as that which is vital to the emergence of the new and hence socio-cultural revolution. As life shifts ever more on-line, we find ourselves caught up in the affective flows of computer mediated practices into an ever expanding and indeterminate horizon. This compilation of articles that were initially presented at an international conference in East London, were selected on the basis of their ability to depict and conceptualise these radical movements of sociality.

Reviews

“Social media play an outsized role in our emotional lives. They continually modulate our moods and feelings. They transmit vague sensations that run through us like an infection or contagion. In order to take the measure of social media today, the essays in this volume combine empirical research with far-ranging speculation, offering us analyses that are at once surprising and disturbingly familiar.” Steven Shaviro, DeRoy Professor of English, Wayne State University

“This is a thought-provoking, occasionally scary, and thoroughly fascinating exploration into the complex networked intensities within which we operate. Spanning from pedagogy to pornography, and beyond, it comes with an international focus and a profoundly interdisciplinary analytical range that make it recommended reading for all interested in understanding the key role that social media plays is contemporary culture.” ​Susanna Paasonen, Professor of Media Studies at the University of Turku

“Sampson, Ellis and Maddison’s collection is crucial to any understanding of contemporary digital culture. Bringing together many directions of affect theory, theorising across a radical plurality of sites, they skilfully hold on to a vital coherence through critical affect studies inspired by feminist and queer theory and by core contributors in the field (e.g. Clough, Gregg, Seigworth, Paasonen).” Kate O’Riordan, Professor of Digital Culture at the University of Sussex

I’m writing a book called “The Rumor Bomb: Vertiginous Democracy in Convergence Culture,” and have already published a few articles that will be featured in the book. Searching Harsin and rumor bomb, you will find them pretty quickly. I just discovered Tony’s work over the last couple of months and it will figure importantly in my theory of rumor bombs.

Yes, It would be nice to get some work on protest on this blog. You’ll see the post about the Greek journal Re-Public (in the archives). It was going to be a really nice edition, I think. Shame that the guys running it have not been paid for 5 or 6 months now and are on strike!

THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF FORUM I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR . . . the confluence of all these topics in one place for people with similar interests to talk about is exactly what the net is supposed to be about. Congratulations to Tony Sampson on both the book and the blog!!

From my book “Vortex to Virus, Myth to Meme” : “In the case of nihilism and chaos, the ongoing epistemological and ontological revolution initiated by the likes of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, the collapse of myth as a totalizing source of meaning, and the transition from a Newtonian, deterministic worldview to a quantum-relativistic, chaotic worldview transformed the Western cultural landscape, paving the way for the “viral” spread of nihilism and chaos to different intellectual and cultural strata.” Just tossing this in to start a discussion hopefully with the members of the blog. I would be very interested in the feedback. I am trying to develop these ideas further and could use the constructive criticism. Thanks, …

Seeing that Deleuze’s notion of the assemblage figures prominently here at the blog, I was wondering to what extent Virality followers and contributors follow the work of Manuel De Landa. I am by no means an expert, but I’ve read some of his stuff on assemblages over the years, and it is very interesting. He has a way of addressing Deleuze and complexity and ontology in a way that I haven’t seen elsewhere. Would welcome any insights from Virality members with regard to De Landa’s work and how it fits in with Virality. . .

One interesting feature of DeLanda for me is the similarity between his assemblage theory of the social and Tarde’s work. Aside from the few explicit references to Tarde in Deleuze (there are of course many implicit references), DeLanda writes interestingly about the importance of special replicators. He also takes up the case against Durkheim, which is where I think Deleuze seems to become most inspired by Tarde i.e. the difference between collective representations and subrepresentational forces in the social field. Indeed, I am surprised that Tarde did not figure in DeLanda’s book.

I’m super curious about your book. I’ve written about empathy, mirron neurons, ethics and fictional characters, but it’s in portuguese… I’ve been trying to find a way to pursue this research and link it with Hardt/Negri’s work, but haven’t quite found a good approach yet… Anyone out there researching these things?

Thanks for your interest. I have indeed looked at Obama’s use of empathy and also mirror neurons in my book. I am therefore super curious about your work too. Do you have a summary of your approach in English. I would happily post about it here and add a link to your work. We get quite a few visits from Portuguese speaking countries.

I’m super curious about your book, can’t wait until it comes out. I’ve written about empathy, mirror neurons, ethics and fictional characters in videogames, but it’s in portuguese… I’m trying to connect this research with hardt/negri’s work, but i haven’t yet found a good approach – anyone out there working on something like that? by the way, can we expect an ebook version of your book? congratulations on this forum, it’s very very interesting. best regards.

Hi, thanks for creating this site. Would be cool to put together a directory of writings in social media contagion here!

Here are a couple of my own recent pieces on the role social media has played in driving up the rise of reactionary views (whether it’s a real rise or just the appearance of a rise is a question that I’ve attempted to address, as well):

The first two pieces detail how social media has been used to spread totalitarian ideas (for example, by the alt right)